A CalMatters investigation into all 148 public campuses in California has uncovered widespread stockpiling of military-grade weaponry, including AR-15s, stun grenades, and long-range acoustic devices, by campus police departments. The 2021 state law requires transparency and public forums, but many colleges fail to comply, raising concerns among students about the potential suppression of dissent.
Military Equipment Inventory
CalMatters compiled annual reports to create a mass inventory of equipment at California higher education institutions. The inventory includes hundreds of semi-automatic rifles, thousands of munitions containing oleoresin capsicum (the chemical in chili peppers), and hundreds of thousands of rifle munitions. Some reports omitted quantities despite legal requirements, prompting CalMatters to source additional documents or directly request figures.
The law, authored by former Democratic Assemblymember David Chiu, applies only to campus police departments with sworn officers. More than 40 community colleges told CalMatters they did not file a report. Campus safety departments with unsworn personnel are exempt.
Transparency Failures
Multiple police departments failed to hold required public forums. Cal Poly Humboldt and Cal State Sonoma said they did not hold a forum in 2025. Many departments claimed to have held meetings but could not provide evidence of publicity. The Cal State board of trustees has not reviewed the systemwide equipment policy at a public meeting since 2022, though the policy requires annual renewal.
San Jose State University and San Francisco State University own AR-15s, despite Cal State policy not authorizing them. A Cal State spokesperson said these are standard issue, exempt from reporting, even though San Jose's report classifies them as specialized firearms. San Francisco State's semi-automatic rifles will not be listed in future reports, according to university spokesperson Robert King.
Student Resistance
Students have actively opposed militarization. At a January rally outside a UC board of regents meeting, UCLA's UC Divest Coalition criticized spending tuition on military equipment. At Mount San Antonio College, student César Tlatoāni Alvarado led a coalition to protest proposed AR-15 purchases. “There were so many students that were yelling,” Tlatoāni Alvarado said. “They were screaming at the administration. They were upset, they were frustrated. They felt betrayed.” As of June 2026, the college does not own semi-automatic rifles; the discussion is ongoing.
UCLA police deployed long-range acoustic devices, capable of emitting 160 decibels, 71 times in the 2024-25 school year during crowd-management situations. UC Santa Cruz used a similar device during 2024 pro-Palestine encampments. UCLA said it follows federal exposure regulations, including OSHA standards permitting sudden noises up to 140 decibels.
Compliance Corrections
After CalMatters inquiries, several campuses committed to full compliance. Compton College President Keith Curry said the inquiry put the law on his radar for the first time. “Once I understood that it was not implemented correctly, I went into action mode,” Curry said. The college approved an official policy in April 2025 and held a community engagement meeting in May. Chaffey College and Cal State Monterey Bay also updated their policies.
Some colleges are downsizing inventories. MiraCosta College's police chief planned to “responsibly reduce [munition] inventory to a level that aligns with our actual operational needs and best practices,” according to spokesperson Kristen Gonzales.
Ongoing Concerns
Despite improvements, students remain wary. Tlatoāni Alvarado noted a growing trend of student resistance: “College campuses are a focal point for where our activism can translate into real-world change. Colleges are trying to quash that dissent. But what they need to know, and they need to be made aware of, is that there's many more of us than there are of them.”
